GeForce GTX460 rumoured to launch at Computex

[yh125d]

Damn you odd pricing structure, 5850s were supposed to be <$200 by now and I was supposed to have one in my computer!

 

[blanketyblank]

your argument doesnt add up. I paid $189(and it came with a game) for the gtx260 less than 5 months after launch. the higher end 5000 series cards have been out for nearly 7 months and have only gone up in price. again show me a new gen $189 card that can even beat my 18 month old gtx260. heck the $230 5830 can barley do that and not even in every case. sorry but the current higher end cards from both companies are horrible values.

First off your GTX 260 is not typical because it was replaced by a Core 216 variant and because competition from ATI drove down the price drastically. See link how it's price plummeted from 330 down to 177.
http://www.pricetrace.com/?do=q&upc=843368009045&keywords=gtx+260

Second since you have the non 216 variant your card is slightly slower than a 4870 or 5770 which is around 150, but has been on sold for around 130 at times. Sure not in every case, but from what I've read the majority.

Anyways my point is you are assuming time itself will drive down prices, but that is an incorrect assumption. What drives down prices is competition and research and development. If both companies stopped researching the prices would be based on supply and demand alone, and there would still be price segments as the companies try to maximize their profits. However both companies are still active and so performance has been increasing for the price paid (though perhaps not as drastically as you would like).

In other words in the high end segment your 400-500 a year ago could have gotten you a GTX 285/GTX 280 and now it could get you a 5970, 5870 or maybe a GTX 480. Performance has increased for the price.

Around 150 may have gottend you an 8800 GT or 4850 now it can get you a 5770. Performance has increased for the price.

Simply put it's unrealistic to expect a product's price to fall until another product is available to replace it in that price segment. The price segments are essentially fixed (based on the companies' study of consumer demand) but the products that occupy them are not.